Thanks to you, people power once more squeezed out a victory over oil money.

Today the Senate defeated legislation to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The vote was close, but given that this pipeline was a 'no brainer' a year ago, it's pretty remarkable that people power was able to keep working, even in the back rooms of the oil-soaked Senate. (See the full vote count here) Thanks to your hard work -- most recently sending 802,000 messages to the Senate in just 24 hours, not to mention all the calls to your Senators -- we have kept the pipeline at bay yet again. It's unlikely the Senate will take another vote on Keystone XL, but then again, one can't underestimate the corrupting influence of the money Big Oil is pumping into Capitol Hill.

Still, the news isn’t all good. Last week, TransCanada announced plans to build the half of the pipeline that runs from Oklahoma to Texas; and while it doesn’t let them get new tar sands oil across the Canadian border, it’s a blow for folks along the southern half of the route, who we’ll keep fighting side by side with. And TransCanada also announced plans to reapply for a permit to cross the border—so even the partial win we’ve got at the moment may turn out to be temporary. But for right now, there is pipe rusting in big piles across the heartland of the country, instead of sitting underground pumping dirty oil at 700,000 barrels per day. Our victory may not last forever. But today big oil actually lost something big.

We've been playing defense for months, now we've got to go on offense.

The reason this fight has been so hard is because of the financial power of the fossil fuel industry, which brings me to where we go from here. Going forward, we'll be working with the huge majority of Americans who want to end government handouts to the fossil fuel industry. We've learned a lot, not all of it savory, about how the political process works and we're going to put that to use.

The problem couldn’t be more blatant—Senators and Representatives take money from people like Exxon and Koch Industries, and they give them gifts, with our money. It’s gone on for years, and it needs to stop. The vote today is a perfect example: the Senators voting for the pipeline have received $27,552,302 from fossil fuel industries, on average 3 times more than those voting against it.

This fight will stretch out all year long, and you’ll be getting requests for specific actions in your towns and cities in coming weeks. The first thing we’ll need to do is get every Representative, Senator and candidate on the record about their stand on subsidies.

This email isn’t to ask you to do anything in particular, besides just get ready for the next chapter. I think we all need a little well-deserved breather here.

All these battles are connected. We’re finally starting to stand up to the most powerful industry on earth. Sometimes we’ll do it by going to jail, and sometimes by dialing the phone, and sometimes we will win, and sometimes we will lose, but we are—day by day, action by action—building a movement. Together.

"We humans have always behaved as if new sources of energy will come along to replace the ones we use up, so we don’t have to think about conservation or efficiency or alternatives, but we are at the end of that process, we can’t think that way anymore, because there aren’t new abundant pools of energy that are affordable."

"When the State Department last year decided to block the pipeline at least temporarily, enviros cheered. Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, called it "a victory of truth over misinformation," and writer/activist Bill McKibben said "it isn’t just the right call, it’s the brave call." But that bravery wilted quickly in the face of high gas prices and Republican attacks, lame as they have been (the pipeline will have no measureable impact on gas prices in America today, tomorrow, or ever). The unmistakable subtext of this speech was: Tough shit, Frances and Bill and all your earnest followers. Are you really gonna vote for Romney in November?"

People are being badly affected by earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes etc. However, we refuse to come up with better ways of living like solar power and wind power. Surely, if they can send a man to the moon they can come up with a solar powered car? In addition, all the new houses built should only be allowed showers (as they do in Australia where water is scarce) and should have electricity connected only with solar or wind. That way we can phase out this destructive way of life.

In my opinion I have no doubt that "they" have the ability to produce a solar powered car; that would probably be an easy endeavor considering the top engineering brains the us gov't employs. However its not about saving the environment with the powers that be, its about money and than more money, regardless if they have to rape the earth over and over to get it.

Last Sunday, we marched right into the place where the fossil fuel industry didn't want us -- into the Ohio state capitol, for a “people's assembly” in the middle of the state-house protesting the dangerous practice of fracking. It was a beautiful sight to behold: 1000 passionate activists bravely standing up for their rights to free assembly, clean water, and a future worth fighting for.

And on Thursday we marched right out of the place that we were supposed to be: the Rio Earth Summit. World leaders had gathered yet again to forge a plan to address our planetary challenges -- but they ended up failing us by producing another weak, non-binding agreement. So when youth leaders asked us to join a walk-out in protest of the summit's disappointing outcomes, we were proud to join them -- even if that meant breaking the rules set out by the UN.

The point is, if we play by the rules that the corporations have set for our political life, we're going to lose. Corporate polluters channelled $350,000 to Ohio’s governor to make sure he was pushing fracking, and they made sure that the official text in Rio was a mush of weasel words and toothless promises.

So we're going to have to find the places we can have a people-powered edge. Some of those places will be in the streets, of course -- but we'll also be ramping up our work on the web, where hundreds of thousands of people around the world launched a “TwitterStorm” on fossil fuel subsidies last week. Those subsidies ended up being one of the only real issues that drew much attention at Rio -- meaning that hundreds of thousands of people around the world managed to take this arcane topic and thrust it into the global spotlight. In the weeks ahead, we'll continue to ramp up the pressure on fossil fuel subsidies with a sustained, strategic campaign in the US and around the world.

World leaders failed us in Rio -- and if we don’t shake things up, there’s no reason to think that they are likely to change. Fortunately for the planet, this movement already has some big plans under way.

Some of our friends in Texas are taking the lead with a bold action called the Tar Sands Blockade. They're planning a very direct action that will literally stand in the way of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline.

This section of Keystone will get final approval from the Obama Administration this week -- the plan is to build a pipeline running from Cushing, Oklahoma to Port Arthur, Texas, carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of toxic oil across farms, homes and communities. Stopping the northern leg of the pipeline running from Canada is an important victory that we will continue to defend, but with folks in Oklahoma and Texas facing this new danger, our movement needs to step up to help them as well.

They need all kinds of help: online supporters who can amplify their message on social media, small donations for supplies, and courageous people who can join them on the front-lines in Texas. (A full list of needs is below this email)

Click here to sign up to support the Tar Sands Blockade in Texas

We're not in charge of this action, but our team has been working with the organizers closely, and we're excited to pass on their call to action.

It's not always easy to be doing such hard work in trying times. But if we have a hope to beat this crisis, it's in our collective bravery and strength.

Thank you.

Bill McKibben for the 350.org Team

P.S. Here’s the word directly from the folks in Texas:

Summary

A dedicated and experienced group of activists has been preparing all year for this action. We have exhausted every other option and now we are going to take direct action to blockade the construction of this pipeline nonviolently and safely. We have an organized strategy, trained activists, practiced our skills, built our blockades and crafted our media message. We are strong and we are ready, but we need your help before and after TransCanada arrives to destroy our homes. Successful actions require many different kinds of support and there is something for everyone who wants to help.

There are a myriad of ways to get involved in the Tar Sands Blockade! We are one team, united by our love for the beautiful planet we share together. Among the ways you can get involved include:

Donate supplies or funds

In order for this action to be safe and successful we need supplies and funds. Every penny goes directly towards things we need like food, gear, travel expenses and legal fees. Cash donations are tax deductible and a great way for people who can't be here to help us out in a tremendous way. Click here to donate to support the action. These are the things that will keep us safe and healthy so that we can stop the pipeline and help to slow the climate crisis.

Spread the word

Anyone with a web browser can be a huge asset to the action by just telling their friends and spreading the word throughout their social networks. Click here to plug-into our social media strategy.

If we tell this story right we can inspire people all along the pipeline route to use the time-tested method of nonviolent direct action to bring the zombie pipeline down for good! If you have media skills, we need bloggers, artists and web-savvy people who can help us from their homes. Please contact us at KXLBlockade@riseup.net for more information.

Travel to Texas

We need people who have the skills and are willing to accept the risks of participating in our blockade. This would include spending days at a time outdoors fulfilling various responsibilities. Our blockaders will be living in a camp site that will need food, gear, safety, direct support, transportation and communications help. This camp is our direct action community and all of us are equals working and living together democratically to secure our common goals. Click here to join the action in person.

We will be hosting a regional training in July for activists interested in getting involved. Click here to join the training.

We have taken every precaution to secure our safety, but this type of action does come with certain risks. There is the possibility of arrest and the potential for bodily harm. Anybody who is not sure if they can afford those risks should choose other ways to join our team.

Nobody can do everything but everybody can do something.

350.org is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email alerts. You can help power our work by getting involved locally, sharing your story, and donating here.

I got the following letter in my inbox today. If nothing else I ask you to check out the last link:summerofsolidarity.tumblr.com

Friends -

The next critical phase of our fight against Keystone XL is here. Here's what will be a long - but I hope useful - update that I'd like to share with you, the folks who led this campaign as part of the Tar Sands Action, about where we're at.

Your work stopped TransCanada in its tracks - and forced them to take drastic measures to try to get the pipeline built. They broke the pipeline in two - getting fast-track approval for the southern leg through Oklahoma and Texas, and forcing a re-review of the northern half.

The fight you started last summer is continuing, and on more fronts than ever.

There is a budding resistance movement developing along the Southern pipeline route that is stepping up to use direct action to stop the pipeline.

The Tar Sands Blockade is leading the way -- when TransCanada begins construction they'll be met by a coalition of landowners, Tea Party types and environmentalists engaging in non-violent resistance to stop the pipeline. It's critical that we support these efforts, both for their own sake, and to show our leaders that they can expect serious backlash whenever they build dirty tar spewing pipelines from now on. Click here to join the Tar Sands Blockade: tarsandsblockade.org/join-us/

As construction begins on the Southern leg of the pipeline, the State Department is re-starting its environmental review of the northern leg of the pipeline, putting us on track for an early 2013 decision on whether to move forward with the critical northern link to the tar sands.

We need to show, once again, the connection between Keystone XL, the tar sands, and climate change. Extreme weather is the most important story of 2012 so far, and connecting this pipeline to the incredible devastation caused by runaway climate change gives us an incredibly powerful tool to keep this thing bottled up.

Last year, thanks to your pressure, President Obama said that he would consider the climate impacts of the tar sands when considering approval of Keystone. Right now, The US State Department is deciding how they will review the pipeline, and it's not clear that they will examine climate change. Yesterday, 10 of the nation's top climate scientists sent a letter to State insisting that climate impacts be included in the review of Keystone XL. Can you join them and make sure that the State Department knows that climate change is not in our national interest, and must be considered as part of the Keystone XL review?

Click here to send a message to the State Department: act.350.org/letter/keystone-state-climate/

Also, we need to make this a fight about the toxicity of the tar sands themselves. The federal government just released their report about the largest tar sands spill to date, which took place in Michigan in 2010, and it showed that the industry is failing to protect people, land and water along the pipeline routes. The tar sands are an inherently corrosive, toxic product, and should not be allowed in anyone's back yard.

We're continuing the broader fight against tar sands oil by coordinating with folks across New England who are working to stop a proposal to move tar sands oil through an aging natural gas pipeline, for export to the Atlantic. It's the same kind of pipeline, and pipeline company, that spilled millions of gallons of tar sands oil in Michigan two years ago, which is why we're supporting a day of solidarity actions on July 25th, the anniversary of the spill, called We Are the Kalamazoo. Several dozen events are planned along pipeline routes across the country -- click here to join one near you: tarsandsfreene.org/find-events

The fossil fuel industry's role in wrecking the planet and our democracy could become a defining issue this fall. People are waking up to the impacts of climate change. And they're getting mad about the fact that we're paying for the damage by subsidizing the very industry that is responsible for the wild weather. If we can keep organizing around climate change and extreme weather to show that there is enormous political opportunity in standing up to stop the tar sands, we'll be much closer to stopping Keystone.

There are already dozens of visits to campaign events planned to put members of Congress on the stop for their stances on fossil fuel subsidies (it would be great if you could join - click here to sign up act.350.org/signup/heat-subsidies/).

Also the spark you helped set last fall has ignited a string of exciting civil disobedience actions this summer. There is a whole summer of bold action planned - a Summer of Solidarity - spanning from West Virginia to Montana to New York, where folks are standing up to stop dangerous fossil fuel projects. Click here to find out more about what is planned this summer: summerofsolidarity.tumblr.com

So, that's the big picture. The last year or so has been a wild ride for this movement, and your work to stop Keystone has been one of the highlights, showing what we can do with focus, some courage and a lot of people. I am eager to see what we will do together next.

Again I must apologize for the double post but I would like to point out that it is the Indigenous of all continents that are on the front lines fighting every single day to stop the Pipeline, fracking and mountain top removal and in doing so are fighting for each one of us. Please join them and the rest of the people starting to take back our destinies from uncaring profit driven corporations.

Bill McKibben of 350.org has a new article out in Rolling Stone Mag. that he says is the most important thing he has written since 1989:

“ Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? Know that you yourself are essential to this World. ”

But it is the opposition of Canada's original inhabitants that may ultimately doom the pipeline. The chiefs of more than 100 First Nations tribes, who control half of the land that the Northern Gateway would traverse, have signed a declaration to stop the project, calling it "a grave threat" to their lands and waters. "We will defend our rights, no matter what bully tactics the federal government throws at us," declared Jackie Thomas, chief of the Saik'uz First Nation, issuing what could prove to be the death knell for the pipeline. "Enbridge will never be allowed in our lands."

THE WALKIt's been said that we will either find a way, or make one. The inspiration for THIS LAND WAS YOUR LAND, comes from THE LONGEST WALK, organized in 1978 by the American Indian Movement (AIM). It was a 3,200-mile journey from San Francisco to Washington D.C. in protest of Indian water and land rights that were threatened by the US government and corporate mining interests. Natives and non-Natives walked under the same banner, a walk for survival.

Special thanks to Brenda Norrell and the folks from Censored News for featuring, This Land Was Your Land, today in an article. Brenda Norrell is such an inspiration, so I’m truly honored to have this write-up.http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/08/walki...

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